We raise anchor and leave the magestic beauty of Calita Nopolo behind. Hiraya’s bow cutting through the cool blue water she takes us past the small fishing village of Nopolo nestled into the hills at the base of the massive cliffs. As we move onward through out the day we watch for sea life and the ever changing landscape. We are only traveling around twenty miles today but where we land is a stark difference from where we came.
The Sierra de la Giganta mountain range starts to run inland making way for a more sandy beach landscapes. The hills giving off a pinkish hue with white sand lighty lining some of the coves we sail past. We are the only ones out there it feels. As we approach Los Gatos we are amazed at the red rock lining the bay. We comment how much it looks like the red rock in Utah. The sun is getting low in the sky as we set anchor. We enjoy a quick dinner with as the red, orange, and pink danced across the sky and reflected up out of the clear water. Small bate fish swim around Hiraya’s hull.
The quiet peace is broken by a loud splash then another. Soon we are surrounded by diving pelicans. At least fifty pelicans are diving one after another. Aside from the fright the bait fish might be feeling it was impressive to watch the birds hunt, dive, eat, repeat. We watch the show a while longer then settle in for a slightly rocky night sleep.
The next morning we head to shore cameras in hand. Our mission was to explore the red rock in search of the puma caves. Los Gatos named for the pumas that use to call these caves home. With the classic instructions of “walking up the arroyo you will find the trail” we set off. Passing the cholla we are glad we left the pliers in our pack. We walk and walk through the deep sand of the arroyo sipping our water as we go. All of a sudden we find our selves on a road that crosses the arroyo. Do we go right or left? Well we go left but it seems we are walking away from anything that might have a cave so we turn around and head back to the arroyo going right now. We hike along looking for anything that resembles a cave. We end up back at the waters edge.
Following the beach we head to the North end of the crescent shaped bay. “If we can’t find the caves we will just hike up to the cross on the hill” Sam says. The red rock lays out like giant frozen red sand dunes. We leap, scamper, walk, and jump our way untill we reach a well packed trail that starts halfway up the hill. Some parts dirt some parts broken pieces of rock. It doesn’t take us long before we are on top looking out at the Golf of California. The brilliant blue waters speckled with nearby islands is a stunning sight. We take time at the top to rest drink water and discuss where to head to next. We enjoy the quiet view. Two other boats anchor in the bay but it doesn’t change the peace we find out here.
While looking at the 360 degree view we notice another cross on the next ridge We carefully head over there before returning to Hiraya just in time for the nightly Pelican dance. We fix dinner and discuss again where we will be heading. The temperatures are rising maybe we could start snorkeling. Lets go to San Marcial! We hear there is a reef that we could snorkel. And it is only about 15 miles away so we wouldn’t have to get up really early.